It would have been easy to explain it. Words were words, nothing more, though people often claimed they were. There was power in them, but not enough to change things. Actions did that. Ryuichi knew it. Just a fact, and he didn't want to explain, though it wouldn't have taken much.

There wasn't even a good story to go along with it. Just a mission gone wrong, and a teammate's name on the Hero's Stone. That was just common. Nothing more to it. Ryuichi had heard horror-stories. Seen the scars others had gained from bad turns. In comparison to many, his eye and throat were just scratches. Trivial things. They weren't important anymore. Scars didn't matter unless they inhibited movement, and he'd gotten over the handicap years ago.

Ryuichi only shrugged the hand off and avoided Kotetsu's eyes.

Nothing to say. It'd end just find if he worked with that assumption.

It was probably true, anyways. This was just a slip-up. It wouldn't happen again.

"Not much of one," he muttered in response to Kotetsu.

The point had been to calm the other ninja down.

Ryuichi glanced at Kotetsu's feet.

Maybe it had worked.

Not the way he'd intended.